1 D o you not know, brethren—for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law—that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive?

¿Acaso ignoráis, hermanos (hablo con los que conocen de leyes), que la ley se enseñorea del hombre entre tanto que éste vive?

2 F or a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband.

La mujer casada está sujeta por la ley al marido mientras éste vive; pero si el marido muere, ella queda libre de la ley que la unía a su marido.

3 A ccordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

Así que, si en vida del marido se une a otro hombre, será llamada adúltera; pero si su marido muere, es libre de esa ley, de tal manera que si se une a otro marido, no será adúltera.

4 L ikewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Así también vosotros, hermanos míos, habéis muerto a la Ley mediante el cuerpo de Cristo, para que seáis de otro, del que resucitó de entre los muertos, a fin de que llevemos fruto para Dios.

5 W hen we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by the Law were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death.

Mientras vivíamos en la carne, las pasiones pecaminosas, estimuladas por la Ley, obraban en nuestros miembros llevando fruto para muerte.

6 B ut now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under the old code of written regulations, but of the Spirit in newness.

Pero ahora estamos libres de la Ley, por haber muerto para aquella a la que estábamos sujetos, de modo que sirvamos bajo el régimen nuevo del Espíritu y no bajo el régimen viejo de la letra. El pecado que habita en mí

7 W hat then do we conclude? Is the Law identical with sin? Certainly not! Nevertheless, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning. I would not have known about covetousness if the Law had not said, You shall not covet and have an evil desire.

¿Qué, pues, diremos? ¿La Ley es pecado? ¡De ninguna manera! Pero yo no conocí el pecado sino por la Ley; y tampoco conocería la codicia, si la Ley no dijera: «No codiciarás».

8 B ut sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead.

Pero el pecado, aprovechándose del mandamiento, produjo en mí toda codicia porque sin la Ley, el pecado está muerto.

9 O nce I was alive, but quite apart from and unconscious of the Law. But when the commandment came, sin lived again and I died (was sentenced by the Law to death).

Y yo sin la Ley vivía en un tiempo; pero al venir el mandamiento, el pecado revivió y yo morí.

10 A nd the very legal ordinance which was designed and intended to bring life actually proved death.

Y hallé que el mismo mandamiento que era para vida, a mí me resultó para muerte,

11 F or sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it, killed me.

porque el pecado, aprovechándose del mandamiento, me engañó, y por él me mató.

12 T he Law therefore is holy, and commandment is holy and just and good.

De manera que la Ley a la verdad es santa, y el mandamiento santo, justo y bueno.

13 D id that which is good then prove fatal to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing, in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.

Entonces, ¿lo que es bueno vino a ser muerte para mí? ¡De ninguna manera! Más bien, el pecado, para mostrarse como pecado, produjo en mí la muerte por medio de lo que es bueno, a fin de que el pecado, por medio del mandamiento, llegara a ser extremadamente pecaminoso.

14 W e know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh, having been sold into slavery under sin.

Sabemos que la Ley es espiritual; pero yo soy carnal, vendido al pecado.

15 F or I do not understand my own actions. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe '> which my moral instinct condemns].

Lo que hago, no lo entiendo, pues no hago lo que quiero, sino lo que detesto, eso hago.

16 N ow if I do what is contrary to my desire, I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.

Y si lo que no quiero, esto hago, apruebo que la Ley es buena.

17 H owever, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin which is at home in me and has possession of me.

De manera que ya no soy yo quien hace aquello, sino el pecado que está en mí.

18 F or I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it.

Y yo sé que en mí, esto es, en mi carne, no habita el bien, porque el querer el bien está en mí, pero no el hacerlo.

19 F or I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am doing.

No hago el bien que quiero, sino el mal que no quiero, eso hago.

20 N ow if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it, but the sin which dwells within me '> fixed and operating in my soul].

Y si hago lo que no quiero, ya no lo hago yo, sino el pecado que está en mí.

21 S o I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

Así que, queriendo yo hacer el bien, hallo esta ley: que el mal está en mí,

22 F or I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self.

pues según el hombre interior, me deleito en la ley de Dios;

23 B ut I discern in my bodily members '> in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs '> in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

pero veo otra ley en mis miembros, que se rebela contra la ley de mi mente, y que me lleva cautivo a la ley del pecado que está en mis miembros.

24 O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from this body of death?

¡Miserable de mí! ¿Quién me librará de este cuerpo de muerte?

25 O thank God! through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

¡Gracias doy a Dios, por Jesucristo Señor nuestro! Así que, yo mismo con la mente sirvo a la ley de Dios, pero con la carne, a la ley del pecado.